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Rest/Work, Banner/Quilt

30 Jul 2026
An image with text and a photograph of a yellow and green quilt being held up in the countryside next to a dry stone wall. Text reads: Scottish artists union learning. 23rd Aug, 5th Sept, 12th Sept, 11am - 1pm, Circus Art Space, Inverness. Rest/Work, Banner/Quilt. Join us in making a collaborative banner quilt for artists in the Gàidhealtachd! Free and Open to all

Rest/Work Banner/Quilt

Quilt and banner making both have long histories as tools of resistance, reflecting the identities, hopes, and strengths and solidarity of communities.

Over 3 practical workshops, we invite you to spend time engaging in these traditions & come together around a shared craft lead by Jess Carnegie and Keng Keng Tang. 

By asking “Can a banner be quilt? Can a quilt be a banner?”, we’ll reflect on Tricia Hersey’s practice of rest as a form of resistance, learn tools for nurturing a healthy work/life balance as artists particularly after life changes, and collaboratively make a Gàidhealtachd artists union quilt/banner that supports ourselves and our work in all its forms.

REGISTER by 19th August 

📆 Sun 23rd August 

📆 Sat 5th Sept 

📆 Sat 12th Sept 

⌚ 11am - 1pm 

🌱 Circus Art Space, Telford Street, Inverness, IV3 8EX  

Limited spots available!  Please attend all sessions where possible. Teas, coffees and snacks provided. 

(Sat 22nd August is SAU’s hybrid AGM and workshop on Universal Basic Income! Attend online on Saturday, make a quilt on Sunday and make a weekend out of it! Sign up HERE if you are an SAU member )

This is a free course open to all those based in Scotland whether you are a union member or not. All art practices are welcome. 

Workshop outline/description 

  • In workshop 1, we will create the design for our quilt-banner. We will think about what it means to be an artist in the Gàidhealtachd, and what we want to communicate through fabric and thread. Keng Keng Tang will give an artist talk and grounding session.

  • In workshop 2, we will create the 'quilt-top' based on our designs and making. The quilt-top is the patchwork that will make the front of the quilt-banner. 

  • In workshop 3, we will hand quilt the quilt-banner. Quilting is the process of stitching or knotting layers of fabric together that will create the quilt-banner.

Throughout the series we will engage with Tricia Hersey’s Rest as Resistance along with a series of resources on quilt and banner making histories and traditions around the world.

Women for Peace: Banners from Greenham Common by Charlotte Dew 

The Quilts of Gee's Bend by Susan Goldman Rubin 

Mauka to Makai: Hawaiian Quilts and the Ecology of the Islands ed. by Marenka Thompson-Odlum 

Many Hands Make a Quilt: Short Histories of Radical Quilting by Jess Bailey

Thanks to support from Scottish Union Learning and Circus Art Space.